Of course, I hold people who claim to have conservative, Christian values to a higher standard, so this was very upsetting. It was more upsetting to find out that the woman Ensign was sleeping with was also married, and both she and her husband worked for Ensign. In my book, it was also disturbing to learn that this affair went on for several months, so it’s not like he can claim that he got a little crazy one night and things got out of hand, but it never happened again.

I also read that the affair started several months after he had separated from his wife. Apparently, he later reconciled with his wife and cut things off with his mistress at that time. I also read that Ensign went public now because the mistress’ husband was blackmailing him.

This just really bugs me. I guess the fact that they were separated makes it a little more understandable (except for the fact that he knew the mistress was married too). But then again, the mistress’ husband sound like a real winner (not).

Grrrr. Why do these people who you just start to respect have to go and do crap like this? The funny thing is, when I heard this guy was coming to Iowa and I saw a picture of him, my first reaction was, “Wow, he’s a pretty good looking guy (for an old dude). And he seems to be a pretty solid conservative. So long as he’s kept it in his pants, he probably has a pretty bright political future.”

I guess I spoke too soon.

I really think this eliminates any realistic chance of Ensign running for president in 2012. This affair is just too recent. Just like I didn’t understand how Mitt Romney could be pro-choice at a mature age (right before he decided to run for president) when he should have known better (because he church taught him better), Ensign did this just last year (despite professing to be a born-again Christian and advocate for the Promise Keepers organization, which should have taught him better).

Even in the future, this will be a huge liability. There are a lot of people, myself included, who see this as a huge character flaw. Some people cheat. Some people never would. And if you’re willing to hurt someone you say you love, you’re probably willing to lie and cheat and steal from your constituents, too.

This guy has a long way to go if he is ever going to regain the trust of the people. I hope he can, but right now, I just don’t know.

About the Author

Battleground Iowa

Emily Geiger writes from a conservative perspective on everything from politics to religion to pop culture. Like the original Emily of Revolutionary War era, this Emily is delivering important messages crucial to winning the raging war of the time, but today, this is a culture war rather than a traditional one. And, like the original Emily, sometimes it takes a woman to do (or say) that which lesser men lack the courage and tenacity to do.